Star TV anchor and Rudd 'friend' detained in China corruption probe

Edward Wong

Beijing: A prominent Chinese state television anchor has been detained by the authorities, the state news media reported on Saturday.

Rui Chenggang, a popular host of a financial news program on China Central Television, or CCTV, was taken away by officials on Friday, along with Li Yong, the vice-director of financial news for the network, according to People's Daily, the official organ of the Communist Party. People's Daily posted the news on Saturday evening on Twitter and on its Chinese microblog.

On Friday evening, Rui's program, Economic News, was broadcast with an empty anchor's chair and microphone, and the co-anchor, Xie Yingying, hosted the program alone.

In May, as part of the widening government investigation into corruption at CCTV, Guo Zhenxi, president of CCTV's Channel 2, was detained on suspicion of taking bribes. Other CCTV executives have also been detained in recent months. Mr Guo had described Rui as "our star anchor", saying "for the first time we're examining the health of the nation with a television program".

On Saturday, a senior journalist at CCTV said that colleagues had told him in the morning that they had been ordered to remove content related to Rui from the network's website and to scrap on-air advertisements featuring him and his show.

Rui is the most well-known celebrity to have been ensnared in a broad anti-corruption campaign being overseen by Chinese President Xi Jinping. Last month, the party announced that Xu Caihou, a former top general, was being stripped of Communist Party membership and handed over to investigators looking into allegations of corrupt practices, including the selling of military posts. Xu's purge was the most significant in the ranks of the People's Liberation Army in many years.

Rui, in his mid-30s, is fluent in English and has been heralded by fans as the face of modern China's aspirations.